| Weather Vocabulary related to Summer | |
Summer is a time of great variability in the plains and mountains of the West. The weather can be calm and clear (nii'íisóoo' = "the weather is good"; kóe'téisóoo' = "the weather is calm"), and then rapidy shift to windy, stormy, and even life threatening when thunder and lightning storms arrive. While the Arapahos enjoy calm and pleasant weather and worry about storms just like all people, they also see in thunderstorms a great source of power, embodied in the Thunderbird.
The Seasons
summer = benííce'
may = biiskóó' ("the leaves are appearing")
june = biicéíniisíís ("summer month")
july = 3óó3oonbiicéíniisíís ("height
of summer month")
august = nííhoonkóó'
("the leaves are turning yellow")
Heat and Dryness
heníísiiyóó' = it is warm'
heesítee' = it is hot
henéenestéisóoo' = there is a heat wave ("there is continual
hot weather")
henííxoo'óé' = it
is dry
konoo'óuu3óó' = it is dusty
neyóoxét = a dust-devil (same as "tornado" and "whirlwind")
[When a dust devil is coming, you should say in Arapaho hónohúbe' meaning "other
side,"
in order to make it go around you]
Winds
tenéiise' = there is a very light, calm wind - barely
perceptible
kóóxo'tóése' = there is a slow, gentle wind
heeséíse' = it is windy
nonó'otéése' = it is very windy
neyóoxét = tornado or whirlwind
neeyóóxetiinéése' = there is a tornado wind blowing
ceneenéése' = the wind is
dying down
Moisture
híínoonó'et = cloud
heníínoonó'eti' = it is cloudy
[Hunters would often look at the clouds;
they believed that the shape of a
cloud would predict the kind of animal which they would find in their hunt.]
híítoyóó' = it is dewy, damp; dew, dampness
hóxes = mud
hóóxesííni' = it is muddy
céétee = mist, haze
ceneetéése' = it is misty, hazy
hokséé3oo = low, protective clouds hanging over the mountains
(also means "tipi liner")
bee'énoo = fog (also means "turtle")
béé'enóúni' = it is foggy
[When the weather was too dry for a long time, prayers were addressed to the
turtle.
Not only was the turtle part of the creation of the world, but since
the turtle's name was the same as the word for "fog,"
the turtle was especially
associated with moisture.]